"Connect through books": Inquiry Book Study

We're starting a new program - and a way for you to get involved!

The Calgary Science School "Connect Through Books" is an online book discussion series - focusing on books that discuss inquiry-based approaches to learning and teaching.

The book study will be conducted through this Calgary Science School Connect! Blog. Starting on February 8th, every two weeks there will be an introductory blog post written - and then the community will have the opportunity to comment on the initial post.

The first blog post will be written by Neil Stephenson (PD and Outreach Coordinator here at CSS). After that, there are six opportunities for other participants to write the intro blog. Click here to sign up to be a guest blogger.

The schedule for blog postings will be:

February 8th: Introduction and Chapter 1 (written by Neil Stephenson)

February 15: Free webinar by David Perkins

February 22nd: Chapter 2 (Yvonne Denomy)

March 1: Chapter 3 (Allison Hone)

March 8th: Chapter 4 (Mark Gillingham)

March 15: Chapter 5 (Sarah MacGregor)

March 22nd: Chapter 6 (Joanna Sanders Bobiash)

March 29: Chapter 7 (Keith Hadden)

All the posts can be found here.

The first book will be "Making Learning Whole" by David Perkins. The description of the book from Amazon reads:

"David Perkins, a noted authority on teaching and learning and co-director of Harvard's Project Zero, introduces a practical and research-based framework for teaching. He describes how teaching any subject at any level can be made more effective if students are introduced to the "whole game," rather than isolated pieces of a discipline. Perkins explains how learning academic subjects should be approached like learning baseball or any game, and he demonstrates this with seven principles for making learning whole: from making the game worth playing (emphasizing the importance of motivation to sustained learning), to working on the hard parts (the importance of thoughtful practice), to learning how to learn (developing self-managed learners).

UPDATE: David Perkins is offering a free webinar on "Making Learning Whole" on February 15th at 8pm EST! This will allow us to hear directly from the author after we have started in on book. More info can be found here. We'll post the webinar link as the event gets closer.

If you are interested in joining this book study fill out this form. Also, if you'll consider being one of our six guest bloggers - fill out this form.

A big thanks as well to museum designer and thoughtful blogger Nina Simon for the online book discussion format.

Reader image taken from: Garry Knight

Boreal Math: Final Thoughts

Our grade 6 students have recently finished wrestling with the math problem: "Are there enough trees in Canada's Boreal Forest to be the lungs of the earth?"

The question came from research that one of the Grade 6 teachers, Erin Couillard, found which stated that the northern boreal forest now produces more oxygen than any other forest in the world.

During the planning stage for this problem, our 2 grade 6 math/science teachers, Erin and Emily Brown, decided to structure it in a different way than they had previously.

Building on the ideas of Dan Meyer, the problem was introduced to the students will less formal structure than the teachers normally would have planned. This allowed the students to be more involved in the "formulation" of the problem than just the "computation" of the numbers. (Great video by Dan Meyer on the topic) The openness of the problem allowed multiple entry points into the problem - since the math was only introduced after some brainstorming and problem solving by the students.

Due to this change in structure, far more students found a place to start with the problem. According to Erin Couillard, this is the first time she has presented a math problem to her students where all students knew how to get started on some piece of the problem. While normally there are a few students who approach the teacher for help, not knowing where or how to start, this was not the case with this problem.

Erin has also commented that she witnessed more sustained engagement with the problem - longer than she had seen before. Students spent over a week on the problem - and often self-organized into small working groups, depending on the specific part of the problem they were wrestling with.

Why it worked:

In thinking through this problem, the teachers believed that a few elements increased the student buy-in and engagement:

Context Matters:

1. The problem was rooted in a context the students were already engaged

in and knowledgeable about. The class had already been studying the Boreal Forest as a science topic - and they were very familiar with the scientific and environmental aspects of the topic. This deep background knowledge meant that students were able to understand the assumptions needed to work with the mathematics of the question. Students quickly raised questions such as:

• Are we talking about deciduous or coniferous trees?
• What about the difference in oxygen production between small trees and large trees?
• Don't different sized people use different amounts of oxygen?
• Isn't the population constantly changing?
• Isn't the size of the Boreal Forest changing?
• What about areas of the Boreal forest with lakes or rivers?

Erin has commented that these questions made the math more realistic and authentic. The students quickly realized that they were carrying out calculations on moving targets - and understood why estimations and a critical understanding of information sources was important. During the 'classroom discussions' video - you can see how Erin embeds the importance of website credibility into the mathematical discussions. This approach allowed students to generate the necessary assumptions, which they were asked to comment on when creating their final podcast explanations.

For Erin, this experience can reconfirmed how important the context for a math problem can be, as opposed to what often happens in a math classroom - the parachuting in of a disconnected word problem. The students were fluent with the language, units and 'topography' of the problem - giving them a connectedness to the problem that helped with their engagement.

Space versus Structure:

2. The opening up of the problem allowed the students to focus on the problem solving first,and the calculations second. When the problem was presented to the students, there was some superfluous background knowledge, and some information missing. This meant that all students were able to get started somewhere - even if it was just trying to find the current human population.

This opening up of the problem also meant that some students quickly bumped up against their own gaps in understanding or misconceptions of mathematics. Erin feels that a more structured problem, similar to what she has given in the past, does not allow students the opportunity to determine which calculation is necessary - it's often laid out in the problem. The multiple ways to solve this problem meant that student understanding of mathematic concepts became easily visible. Erin was able to easily see which students were struggling – and spend her time intervening with those students.

The Right Problem:

3. This problem covered the right outcomes and was appropriate in challenge for this age group. One of the difficulties in structuring open-ended math questions like this is finding a problem that allows multiple entry and exit points and multiple solutions, but is also constricted enough to fit a particular grade. This problem worked very well for grade 6 - and the outcomes the teachers wanted to cover (place value, number sense, converting units) were all embedded and then discovered by the students.

In the teacher interview Erin comments that this experience has changed everything for her as a math teacher. She no longer wants to teach skills in isolation - but will continue to look for rich problems that will allow her to embed skill development in authentic and engaging contexts.

Additional Media:

This video captures some of the classroom discussions that occurred during the problem. In it you'll can see students starting with brainstorming necessary questions – and then working through the various sub-questions that were needed to solve the question.

This second video is an interview conducted with Erin Couillard after the students had completed the problem. Emily Brown and Darrell Lonsberry (CSS Principal) are also present during the interview. Watching this gives you a sense of the Erin’s thoughts about the problem – and where she wants to go next with her students.

There were two versions of the handout that got the students started. The teachers started with Version 1 – where they had planned to give the students all the sub-questions that they needed to solve. Version 2 – the one that was used in the classroom – has all the sub-questions removed, and just supplied the students with some (but not all) of the background information needed to solve the problem. You'll find both versions below:

CSS helping Pakistan

How CSS helped Pakistan

During the week of September 9^th to 17^th, 6.1 held a bottle drive to help the people in Pakistan. Students from the school brought some bottles, can and milk jugs each day and 6.1 picked them up from the each room and counted how many bottle each class collected. 4.3 brought in the most bottles so now they receive an ice cream party! They brought in over 1700 bottles!

Here are some facts about the flood in Pakistan:

· More than 3.5 million children are at risk contracting a deadly water borne disease.

· 20% of Pakistan has been flooded

· More than 1500 people have died in the flooding

· Millions of people have been displaced

We raised $1400.00 and are donating that money to the Canadian Red Cross. The Government is matching the funds that are being donated. A total of $2800.00 is going to Pakistan.

We would like to thank all of the people who brought in cash donations and bottles for Pakistan. Way to go CSS!

By Inaara K.

Google Sketch-Up Expertise Needed!

We are looking for someone who can help us with the design of a grade 8 project using Google Sketch-Up!

The Task:
Our grade 8 students have just begun their Renaissance unit. Similar to last year students will be working through an examination of: (1) the conditions that allowed the Italian Renaissance to flourish, and (2) whether Calgary has those same conditions. While the project is starting in a similar manner to last year, this year the teachers are taking it a step further.

After completing the Renaissance unit last year, the grade 8 teachers created a survey asking the students for feedback on the project. Students reported they gathered a deep understanding of both the Italian Renaissance and new insights into their hometown. However, students also reported that they did not have an opportunity to act on or live out the understanding they had gained. They wanted an opportunity to apply the Renaissance conditions in some way.

With that in mind, the teachers this year are introducing a new component of the project.

Calgary has a small Island Park just outside of downtown (St. Patrick’s Island) that is currently being redesigned. The city has asked for design ideas and public input into how this space might be developed. Each of our four grade 8 classes are going to submit a design for this island, and their designs will attempt to embody the principles of the Renaissance into the development of the island.

The Need:
We are planning on using Google Sketch-Up for students to create a model of their redesigned island. We are hoping to find a way that each of our four grade 8 classes can create one collaborative Google Sketch-Up model. One possible solution is to have students create their building designs as individual components which would then be compiled digitally at the end of the project.

We are wondering whether there is a way to structure a collaborative Google Sketch-Up document or even how to build a collaborative Google Earth file adding building designs from a variety of students.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Gingerbread House Building Contest

Gingerbread House Building Contest - Grade 8/9 Leadership

In December, the Grade 8 and 9 Leadership class held a Gingerbread House building contest for charity. After the contest was finished, we donated the houses to various organizations including the Mustard Seed, Avenue 15 - a homeless shelter for youth, the YWCA Sheriff King Home, and Woods Homes. Teachers were asked to work with their classes to choose 5 participants to represent each class. The houses were judged based upon their aesthetic appearance and overall build quality. The design and appearance varied, some were simple and minimalistic while other were very ornate with many decorations brought in from the participants. In the end, there were many good entries, so we decided to choose a winner from each grade. Each of the participants was awarded 5 House/Colour points while the winning teams from each grade were awarded an additional 5 points. The contest turned out very well in the end and the Gingerbread Houses were very much appreciated by all of the recipients.

The Grade 8/9 Leadership students who organized this event would like to give a big THANK YOU to Ken Wlad of Sobeys who donated all of the Gingerbread kits. Without him, all of this would not be possible.

Winners by grade (10 House/Colour Points each):

4.3 - Colin T., Sofia D., Erica R., Ethan G., Anna V.

5.4 - Kate L., Amanda C., Stephanie C., Jon B., Justin B.

6.3 - Jada B., Kristin M. Maggie C., Will S., Cole D.

7.3 - Harley D., Sarah P., Colby L., Connor S., Noah V.

8.3 - Jada A., Shaina F., Tyler W., Nick B., Jaime C.

9.3 - Jags B., Kelly H., Kayla R., Sabrina V., Calder K.

Written by Khoi N., Edward K., Cam B. (Gr. 8)

Exploring Immigration: A Student Perspective

Over the last number of years, our grade 9 students have participated in a project called Canada: Your Story is My Story.

This project involves students interviewing recent immigrants to Canada with the purpose of better understanding the immigration experience. After meeting and interviewing new Canadians, the students create multi-media narratives of the immigration stories - creating a documentary of each immigrant's journey to this country.

Here's a perspective from two of our grade 9 students who recently finished the project:

"Over the past three weeks, Grade 9 students had the pleasure of meeting immigrant students from the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society. Of all ages and backgrounds, the CCIS students sat down with our Grade 9s to discuss their journey that has led them to Canada. The purpose of the assignment was to understand the immigrant journey and the struggle and sacrifices they encountered to come to Canada. Through three different sessions, we questioned and listened to the stories the CCIS students shared, intrigued about the sacrifices they had to make to come live in a new country.

A strong bond began to form between the immigrants and us because we found that most of our interests (e.g. soccer, listening to music) were also values to our new found friends. My group and I were privileged to meet Mr. Moon from South Korea. He came to Canada to reunite with his family since they had decided that Canada was the place they wanted to live. His youngest son was the first to request to come to Canada in order to seek a better education. Among many other things Mr. Moom spoke a lot about Kimchi, which was a traditional meal in South Korea.

We decided to create an analogy of Mr. Moon's immigration through the Kimchi which symbolized his cultural roots. The lettuce is the outer-shell of the kimchi which shelters all the other ingredients in a safe bubble. The lettuce would be like Mr. Moon's outer image that he prepared before coming to Canada. This worked similar to the lettuce because it kept all his emotions of traveling and leaving his home country enclosed and not shown to the public. The salt gives the kimchi stronger taste and bitterness. The salt relates to Mr. Moon's small, but existing bitterness of leaving his home country. The red pepper flakes are spicy which increases the flavor. The red pepper flakes in Mr Moon's immigration journey would be the excitement of going to a new country, the uncertainty of how “spicy” the trip will be. The green onions and ginger bring the happiness and feeling of success when your life in the new county begins to turn. Everything begins to go your way and the minced garlic is the awkward taste that leaves you healthier than before. Its the sacrifice that is really a blessing in disguise.

We all learned a tremendous amount from the stories the students shared with us and are thankful for having met such brave and determined people."

You can read more about the project, including examples of student work, by clicking here.